Actor Richie Gibson commando Cliff Morris in 10 Days to D-Day

Britain's greatest escape

As it Happened: Dunkirk

SBS, June 12, 19 and 26 at 7.30pm

Reviewer :: Cpl Cameron Jamieson


This drama-documentary is best described like the actual operation it portrays: a phenomenal success. The three-episode series tells the gut-wrenching facts of how 325,000 British troops were evacuated from Dunkirk in a race against time and destruction.

It is told from the British perspective, and it is very convincing.

Most of the story unfolds as a re-enactment, with all the actors portraying real people and using their words.

Politicians and military personnel are all revealed with the rawness of the observations of an eyewitness.

Nothing is held back, be it Lord Halifax demanding that the British sue for peace, or German soldiers executing prisoners.

It is not a program for children, nor it is it light entertainment for adults.

It is a serious program about the greatest escape.